Middle Eastern Man Killed Outside Home Depot

A little over a week ago Hassan Alawsi, 46, was loading items into the trunk of his car at a Home Depot parking lot in Sacramento when a white man shot him. One account said it appeared to be a random act of violence. Now, reports The Sacramento Bee, police have determined that the murder was racially motivated.

According to The Bee, detectives believe that Jeffrey Caylor, “had a ‘severe hatred’ of people of Middle Eastern descent,” and “began following [Alawsi] after seeing him with his sister, who was dressed in an ‘Arabic-style dress’ and headscarf. A relative of Caylor later told detectives that hatred stemmed from an ongoing dispute with a former landlord.”

Alawsi, described as a refugee from Jordan with a fine arts degree from the University of Baghdad, died at the scene. He and his sister had gone to Home Depot to buy gardening supplies. Caylor’s girlfriend and 12-year-old son were in his car at the time of the incident.